Accra Great Olympics skipper Gladson Awako
The rift between city rivals, Hearts of Oak and Great Olympics over the transfer of Gladson Awako has taken a new twist, with Vincent Sowah Odotei, a Board Member of Hearts, describing Olympics’ approach as a ‘low-level football administration’.
Last week, the CEO of Olympics, Mr Oloboi Commodore, stated publicly that Hearts could no longer claim ownership of Awako after reneging on their side of the bargain by refusing to meet the October 2 deadline for the payment of the remaining 50 per cent of the transfer fee.
But in a furious tone, Mr Odotei described Commodore’s conduct as a ‘low-level football administration’, hence Hearts would not be drawn into the gutters by Olympics because they knew the right thing to do.
“We are not interested in this kind of low-level football administration, we are not interested in that; there are rules governing football, there are rules governing relationship. There are bigger things which I believe you the media should be able to give airtime to, not this kind of football administration,” he told Graphic Sports in an interview last Friday.
“Hearts of Oak is not interested in the issues that our colleague in Olympics is raising, it’s not our concern. We want to move beyond this kind of football management; if you sell a player to us and there are issues, there are ways to go around it,” he fumed.
The 31-year-old Awako, who has been at the heart of the transfer controversy between the two clubs, has confided in close friends that he was no longer interested in playing for Hearts without reason.
However, Mr Odotei emphasised that the player was still a Hearts property and that they were only helping him to overcome some personal issues he had. He disclosed that Awako had started training with the Phobians and therefore directed Oloboi to use the appropriate channel to address issues.
The Hearts board member emphasised that the club was not interested in any banter with their rivals over the player and urged Olympics to fulfil their part of the Transfer Matching System (TMS) to ensure a smooth transaction.
“Olympics respectively know what the issues are with the player they sold to us and they know we are engaged in…with due respect we are not interested in this kind of… Awako is our player, he is training with us, he is someone we like; we respect Olympics but we expect you journalists should be able to ask questions when people begin to behave in such manner.
“Olympics must rather go and fulfil their part of the TMS because we’ve put in a request for a player that we’ve paid money for. We expect them to fulfil their part of the TMS so that the transaction goes…They know we are in talks with them, we are engaged with them regarding Awako; we’ll not be drawn into this kind of football management, we are beyond that”, he disclosed.
Credit: graphic.com.gh